Air Asia

[thaiflyer1]

Air Asia are to offer xpress boarding and seat allocation services for an additional fee...........

http://www.airasia.com/site/en/page.jsp?re...=xpressboarding

[Prakanong]

Yeah i got the email today

I am flying with them soon and if i thought i would miss the kiasu antics of the sillyporeans would pay.

Thing is you can not web check in with this though so it might save you one queue but standing in the other although you do get a decent seat.

[thaiflyer1]

Thing is you can not web check in with this though so it might save you one queue but standing in the other although you do get a decent seat.

Looking at their website "photo" it appears that there will be a seperate queue at check-in for xpress boarders.

Presumably there will be a seperate bus to take the xpress boarders to the plane before the rabble

[ovenman]

Their email states that this service is available for a special introductory fee of 200 baht for Thai-based flights. The wording of that makes me wonder what they are planning long-term.

[Prakanong]

Their email states that this service is available for a special introductory fee of 200 baht for Thai-based flights. The wording of that makes me wonder what they are planning long-term.

Long term I move to a budget airline that has allocated seating ;-)

[Levent]

Thing is you can not web check in with this though so it might save you one queue but standing in the other although you do get a decent seat.

Presumably there will be a seperate bus to take the xpress boarders to the plane before the rabble

Hmmm... somewhere it says that if boarding is done by bus, the front seats of the bus will be reserved for these passengers. I find it hard to believe this will work. Usually both front and back doors of the bus are opened when arriving at the aircraft. In this case, the only way it would work is if the cabin crew actually block the seats that are reserved. I might give it a go next time I fly with them, just to see if it works.

[ilyushin]

It will be cool to see if they can get it to work. Colored plastic cards and attentive ground hostess can over come any problems with boarding.

Edited May 16, 2007 by ilyushin

[Prakanong]

I will give it a go on the 30th then - its only 9.50SGD so it might be a laugh.

If anyone pushes in I can be cheeky to them - it is after all Singapore!

[THAILIBAN]

I dont think it will be successfull, because, in my humble opinion, 200 Baht for that is NOT " a laugh ".

I dont think many Thai people are willing to pay for that, and probably not many Farang as well.... (at least not me, because who gives a Sh*t about the seat on a 90 minutes flight..... except departing from Singapore, when there are stunning views of the island state to be had if you manage to get a "A" seat )

those who may need special assistance or care (such as parents with small children or elderly folks) are allowed to board the aircraft first anyway.....

by the way, there are rumours you can even book the permission to be the first passenger to use the toilet on board (when its still clean) in the future..... 100 Baht, what a lovely bargain for a safe p*e or a decent sh*t

Edited May 16, 2007 by THAILIBAN

[ovenman]

I dont think it will be successfull, because, in my humble opinion, 200 Baht for that is NOT " a laugh ".

I have my doubts about this as well. I know other people think it's such a big hassle, but I never have found the AirAsia boarding process to be all that much of a problem. On top of all the other fees/surcharges/taxes that an air ticket already contains, I can't get all that excited over paying yet another 200 baht on top of that. As you say, they are all relatively short flights.

[Prakanong]

I think it will backfire as others do not charge for allocated seating

People will add the Air Asia price including expres boarding and compare.

The main hassle is the kiasu pushing to the front by Singaporeans for me - I have wrote when one Chinese even claimed my Indian colleagues kids as his so he could board quicker ;-)

Then my main bloody grouch with them - lots of people with too much in their hold luggage are allowed to transfer this to hand baggage rather than pay the extra. Nothing wrong with this but make them step out of the queue to do so and not hold everybody up while they take a bit out, weigh it, take a bit more out etc

If they did this check in would be much quicker plus those cheap arsed buggers holding everyone up for 300THB extra baggage would learn their bloody lesson

Rant over

[ovenman]

I think it will backfire as others do not charge for allocated seating

As far as that goes, it wasn't even clear to me that's what one would be paying for with AirAsia. I had the impression that the surcharge bought a place at the front of the scrum rather than an assigned seat.

[Soju]

I think it will backfire as others do not charge for allocated seating

Agreed. I thought I was having a bad nightmare when I read about this. I was actually beginning to warm up a bit to the thought of taking Air Asia, being that THAI has made such idiotic decisions recently (the move back to Don Muang being at the top of the list). But there were/are two remaining reasons for me not to fly Air Asia - their idiotic cattle-style boarding, and their horrible reputation for being extremely late or even canceling flights.

So when I first started reading about this, I thought "great, they finally got the message." But my initial excitement quickly turned to horror when I saw how insulting their decision is by actually thinking they can get away with charging for something that should cost them nothing to do and which almost all other airlines, even their competitor LCCs do. How completely ridiculous this decision is and makes my dislike and disdain for Air Asia reach an all-time high. After seeing this I think they've lost all hope for ever getting me to fly them again. It's not about the amount of the additional cost, as 200 THB isn't much to me, it's the principle that they finally agree with how horrible their boarding process is and rather than improve it, they instead try to use their horrible boarding to make a little extra money. An absolutely shameful business practice and shameful corporation for treating their customers this way.

[Prakanong]

I think it will backfire as others do not charge for allocated seating

As far as that goes, it wasn't even clear to me that's what one would be paying for with AirAsia. I had the impression that the surcharge bought a place at the front of the scrum rather than an assigned seat.

Hmm - this might be even more fun as Sillyporeans will get even more kiasu if they have paid for something and then can still push ;-))

How bloody ridiculous though - if everyone paid it would be the same?

So do families and the infirm still get on first - before express borders?

If not its an even bigger farce

Glad i only do this when being a cheap charley on my own money for a short trip - otherwise is SIA on biz or i use my airmiles for biz class around my birthday

Jetstar and Tiger are looking like gainers here

[lazeeboy]

I think it will backfire as others do not charge for allocated seating

As far as that goes, it wasn't even clear to me that's what one would be paying for with AirAsia. I had the impression that the surcharge bought a place at the front of the scrum rather than an assigned seat.

Hmm - this might be even more fun as Sillyporeans will get even more kiasu if they have paid for something and then can still push ;-))

How bloody ridiculous though - if everyone paid it would be the same?

So do families and the infirm still get on first - before express borders?

If not its an even bigger farce

Glad i only do this when being a cheap charley on my own money for a short trip - otherwise is SIA on biz or i use my airmiles for biz class around my birthday

Jetstar and Tiger are looking like gainers here

i fly with air asia often bkk-cmx everyone starts to queue 20 minutes before the flight everyones getting on ,there not going without you ,if you pay the 200b they will still try and get on before you save the 200b and board last